Love The Way You Lie

12: SUTURES

"Are you bleeding, Addie?" Richard asks you, motioning to your shirt.

Shit. You forgot to clean that up. Shit.

"It's his, I think, or it was from something else," you say ambiguously, and Richard nods, because clearly you are not the priority here.

But he says to "go get cleaned up, we can't have your blood mixing, not now," so you do.

Before you go, though, you ask Richard not to call you "Addie," anymore, because you know Derek freaks out if anyone other than him calls you by a nickname.

"Sure?" Richard says, and you thank him as you wander off to find first aid supplies.

You check the clock and you realize it's just after four so you probably have some time before Derek gets called into work.

You breathe a sigh of relief and you realize you don't know anyone else, here, so you ask the first person you can find where to get new scrubs and a suture kit.

"Are you new here?" A very firm looking black woman asks you.

"Yes, Dr. Addison Shepherd," you introduce yourself professionally as you see her hospital badge. It matches the one that Richard gave you right before you left the trauma room.

"Dr. Miranda Bailey, welcome," the doctor says to you. "Please, call me 'Bailey,' everyone does. I'm a senior resident here, and I have five surgical interns to supervise. What do you do?" Bailey asks you.

"I'm a visiting neonatal/fetal surgeon and OB-GYN," you articulate, "and my graduate research is in genetics about cystic fibrosis," you add. You don't like to brag, usually, but you're proud of your professional/academic accomplishments.

It's the only thing that reminds you you're different from Derek, because he is a brain surgeon.

"Ah, you're working with the other Doctor Shepherd and I on the TTTS case," Bailey says to you, in recognition.

"Yes," you smile, now that you've placed each other.

You decide you really enjoy this 'Doctor Bailey,' and she seems like a very good person.

"Well, I hope you will keep my interns in line," Bailey says to you sympathetically.

"Of course," you offer.

"Is there anyone you'd like to start with, tomorrow?" Bailey asks you kindly.

"I have a choice?" You try not to act so shocked.

"Well, you're new here, and I want you to feel comfortable," Bailey smiles at you.

You get the feeling she might have been put up to this by Richard Webber, who has been trying to get you to stay in Seattle long-term, but either way, you'll gratefully take her kind gesture.

"Erm, I've never met them," you ask in a half-question, and Bailey nods and begins.

You try not to bleed to obviously over anything as you pretend the suture kit was not necessarily for YOU, even though one certainly will need to be.

"Well, there's Dr. Cristina Yang. She's a very talented and precise worker. Competitive, but hardworking and loyal," Bailey begins.

Cristina Yang sounds nice, you think to yourself, she seems driven...

"There's Dr. George O'Malley, he's a bit of a puppy but he's a very good friend to the others," Bailey explains nicely.

George O'Malley seems like he would be good in a crisis, you think to yourself.